1. We wish to draw your attention to an event about to occur in the Latin Catholic
Church: the introduction of the liturgy of the new rite of the Mass. It will become
obligatory in Italian dioceses from the First Sunday of Advent, which this year falls on
November 30. The Mass will be celebrated in a rather different manner from that in which
we have been accustomed to celebrate it in the last four centuries, from the reign of St.
Pius V, after the Council of Trent, down to the present.

2. This change has something astonishing about it, something extraordinary. This is
because the Mass is regarded as the traditional and untouchable expression of our
religious worship and the authenticity of our faith. We ask ourselves, how could such a
change be made? What effect will it have on those who attend Holy Mass? Answers will be
given to these questions, and to others like them, arising from this innovation. You will
hear the answers in all the Churches. They will be amply repeated there and in all
religious publications, in all schools where Christian doctrine is taught. We exhort you
to pay attention to them. In that way you will be able to get a clearer and deeper idea of
the stupendous and mysterious notion of the Mass.

3. But in this brief and simple discourse We will try only to relieve your minds of the
first, spontaneous difficulties which this change arouses. We will do so in relation to
the first three questions which immediately occur to mind because of it.

4. How could such a change be made? Answer: It is due to the will expressed by the
Ecumenical Council held not long ago. The Council decreed: "The rite of the Mass is
to be revised in such a way that the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, as
also the connection between them, can be more clearly manifested, and that devout and
active participation by the faithful can be more easily accomplished.

5. "For this purpose the rites are to be simplified, while due care is taken to
preserve their substance. Elements which, with the passage of time, came to be duplicated,
or were added with but little advantage, are now to be discarded. Where opportunity allows
or necessity demands, other elements which have suffered injury through accidents of
history are now to be restored to the earlier norm of the Holy Fathers" (Sacrosanctum
Concilium #50).

6. The reform which is about to be brought into being is therefore a response to an
authoritative mandate from the Church. It is an act of obedience. It is an act of
coherence of the Church with herself. It is a step forward for her authentic tradition. It
is a demonstration of fidelity and vitality, to which we all must give prompt assent.

7. It is not an arbitrary act. It is not a transitory or optional experiment. It is not
some dilettante's improvisation. It is a law. It has been thought out by authoritative
experts of sacred Liturgy; it has been discussed and meditated upon for a long time. We
shall do well to accept it with joyful interest and put it into practice punctually,
unanimously and carefully.

8. This reform puts an end to uncertainties, to discussions, to arbitrary abuses. It
calls us back to that uniformity of rites and feeling proper to the Catholic Church, the
heir and continuation of that first Christian community, which was all "one single
heart and a single soul" (Acts 4:32). The choral character of the Church's prayer is
one of the strengths of her unity and her catholicity. The change about to be made must
not break up that choral character or disturb it. It ought to confirm it and make it
resound with a new spirit, the spirit of her youth.

9. The second question is: What exactly are the changes?

10. You will see for yourselves that they consist of many new directions for
celebrating the rites. Especially at the beginning, these will call for a certain amount
of attention and care. Personal devotion and community sense will make it easy and
pleasant to observe these new rules. But keep this clearly in mind: Nothing has been
changed of the substance of our traditional Mass. Perhaps some may allow themselves to be
carried away by the impression made by some particular ceremony or additional rubric, and
thus think that they conceal some alteration or diminution of truths which were acquired
by the Catholic faith for ever, and are sanctioned by it. They might come to believe that
the equation between the law of prayer, lex orandi and the law of faith, lex credendi, is
compromised as a result.

11. It is not so. Absolutely not. Above all, because the rite and the relative rubric
are not in themselves a dogmatic definition. Their theological qualification may vary in
different degrees according to the liturgical context to which they refer. They are
gestures and terms relating to a religious actionexperienced and livingof an
indescribable mystery of divine presence, not always expressed in a universal way. Only
theological criticism can analyze this action and express it in logically satisfying
doctrinal formulas. The Mass of the new rite is and remains the same Mass we have always
had. If anything, its sameness has been brought out more clearly in some respects.

12. The unity of the Lord's Supper, of the Sacrifice on the cross of the
re-presentation and the renewal of both in the Mass, is inviolably affirmed and celebrated
in the new rite just as they were in the old. The Mass is and remains the memorial of
Christ's Last Supper. At that Supper the Lord changed the bread and wine into His Body and
His Blood, and instituted the Sacrifice of the New Testament. He willed that the Sacrifice
should be identically renewed by the power of His Priesthood, conferred on the Apostles.
Only the manner of offering is different, namely, an unbloody and sacramental manner; and
it is offered in perennial memory of Himself, until His final return (cf. De la Taille,
Mysterium Fidei, Elucd. IX).

13. In the new rite you will find the relationship between the Liturgy of the Word and
the Liturgy of the Eucharist, strictly so called, brought out more clearly, as if the
latter were the practical response to the former (cf. Bonyer). You will find how much the
assembly of the faithful is called upon to participate in the celebration of the
Eucharistic sacrifice, and how in the Mass they are and fully feel themselves "the
Church." You will also see other marvelous features of our Mass. But do not think
that these things are aimed at altering its genuine and traditional essence.

14. Rather try to see how the Church desires to give greater efficacy to her liturgical
message through this new and more expansive liturgical language; how she wishes to bring
home the message to each of her faithful, and to the whole body of the People of God, in a
more direct and pastoral way.

15. In like manner We reply to the third question: What will be the results of this
innovation? The results expected, or rather desired, are that the faithful will
participate in the liturgical mystery with more understanding, in a more practical, a more
enjoyable and a more sanctifying way. That is, they will hear the Word of God, which lives
and echoes down the centuries and in our individual souls; and they will likewise share in
the mystical reality of Christ's sacramental and propitiatory sacrifice.

16. So do not let us talk about "the new Mass." Let us rather speak of the
"new epoch" in the Church's life.

With Our Apostolic Benediction.

Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
27 November 1969

L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See.
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